News

According to Freddie Mac's Monthly Volume Summary for January, the GSE's portfolio contracted at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent to start 2013.

Vericrest Financial, Inc., a Dallas-based financial services company specializing in residential mortgage loan servicing, announced the appointment of Joe Anderson to chairman and CEO, effective immediately. Anderson will lead the integration of Vericrest and Caliber Funding, LLC and assume the role of chairman and CEO of the combined organization.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder caused a stir Wednesday by voicing the idea that certain financial institutions may be "too big to jail." In a testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Justice Department (DoJ) oversight, Holder said he is "concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to to prosecute when we are hit with indications ... it will have a negative impact on the national economy."

The goal of attracting private capital into the mortgage market is at the center of discussions throughout the industry and the government. Thus far, efforts by the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) and other federal agencies to provide incentives for the creation of a vibrant private mortgage securitization market have been largely unsuccessful, according to Fitch Ratings. However, the ratings agency does see some promise in a couple of FHFA's goals for this year.

The economy added 236,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate slipped to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. Economists had forecast payrolls would grow by 160,000 and that the unemployment rate would remain at 7.8 percent.

Nearly half of respondents in Fannie Mae's most recent housing survey said they expect home prices to rise in the next 12 months, up from 45 percent in January.

Nationwide Title Clearing (NTC), a post-closing services provider located in Palm Harbor, Florida, announced the promotion of longtime employee Michael O'Connell to COO. O'Connell has been with NTC for eight years, formerly leading the sales and client relations teams as VP of client relations.

Credit standards continue to look better and better as the market pulls away from the bubble era and the subsequent crash, LPS says.

Leads360 announced the availability of Leads360 Express, a cloud-based software solution designed to help small lenders and loan officers improve their sales lead conversion rates.

Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey indicated little to no movement in fixed rates for the week ending March 7. According to Freddie Mac's readings, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.52 percent (0.7 point) this week, up slightly from the previous 3.51 percent average. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.88 percent. Meanwhile, Bankrate.com reported no movement in any of its three major metrics, with all of them reading the same as last week.